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US Sends Additional Forces to Middle East as Israel-Hezbollah Tensions Soar, Pentagon Says
Smoke billows over southern Lebanon following Israeli strikes, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Lebanon border, Sept. 23, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Gil Eliyahu
The United States is sending a small number of additional troops to the Middle East given escalating tensions between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the Pentagon said on Monday, declining to specify the precise number or mission of the deployed forces.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we are sending a small number of additional US military personnel forward to augment our forces that are already in the region,” Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesperson, told reporters.
After almost a year of war against Hamas in Gaza, Israel is shifting its focus to its northern frontier, where Hezbollah, a powerful Iran-backed terrorist organization, has been firing rockets into Israel in support of its ally Hamas.
Israel‘s military on Monday struck Hezbollah in Lebanon’s south, eastern Bekaa valley, and northern region near Syria in its most widespread strikes. An Israeli strike on Monday evening on the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital targeted senior Hezbollah leader Ali Karaki, the head of the southern front, a security source told Reuters.
US President Joe Biden’s administration has been seeking to contain the conflict to Gaza and has repeatedly called for the Israel-Lebanon border crisis to be resolved through diplomacy. That call for diplomacy has been underscored by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in daily calls with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Experts question whether Iran would stay on the sidelines if Lebanon’s Hezbollah’s existence were threatened and say US troops could also find themselves targeted throughout the Middle East, if a regional war breaks out.
In their call on Sunday, Austin suggested that no outside actors should intervene in the conflict.
“The secretary made clear that the United States remains postured to protect US forces and personnel and determined to deter any regional actors from exploiting the situation or expanding the conflict,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
Those US capabilities include the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group, fighter aircraft and air defenses.
“We have more capability in the region today than we did on April 14th when Iran conducted its drone and missile attack against Israel,” Ryder said.
“So all of those forces combined provide us with the options to be able to protect our forces should they be attacked.”
Ryder referred to Iran’s attack by more than 300 missiles and drones, which caused only modest damage inside Israel thanks to air defense interceptions from the United States, Britain, and other allies in the region. The April 14 strikes were Iran’s first-ever direct attack on Israel.
The post US Sends Additional Forces to Middle East as Israel-Hezbollah Tensions Soar, Pentagon Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.